19 August 2021

Individuals holding Designated Design-Build Professional™ certifications have demonstrated mastery of best practices in design-build project delivery. They have met the requirements outlined on the following pages, including the successful completion of comprehensive DBIA Certification Exam. Through years of experience and hours of education, Dan Gee has put in the time and work to become a Designated Design-Build Professional™. Below, Dan answers several important questions concerning DBIA Certification.

WHY DID YOU PURSUE DBIA CERTIFICATION?

"The principles and philosophies related to teaming arrangements and project setup/execution that are supported and recommended by DBIA are generally ones I believe are valuable for everyone in our industry to learn about, regardless of whether or not they are involved in an actual design build project. I believe the type of training I went through can help us rethink for the better how we approach certain situations, especially in the early stages of a project. Additionally, there are more clients who are specifically looking for DBIA certified personnel on our teams and this type of certification may help our resume be more competitive."

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHERS CONSIDERING CERTIFICATION?

"It is not rocket science - a lot of the principles I learned are ones we are often doing, perhaps without even realizing it. At the same time, I think there are a lot of things we may "know", but do not take the time to execute for a variety of reasons - so I would recommend taking the opportunity to use the DBIA workshops not only to learn new content, but also to self reflect upon previous experiences and performances."

WHAT BENEFITS DOES DESIGN-BUILD OFFER?

"Generally speaking, the greater the level of upfront effort, coordination, design, and planning, the better position the actual builders are in to successfully build the building. Design build projects typically encourage early involvement of as many significant players as possible, which increases the amount of pre-planning and design development that can be accomplished prior to putting a shovel in the ground. Most design build projects are also structured with the contractor as the design build entity - which means the "driver of the train" is one that is more likely to be intimately familiar with managing large volumes of risk from both a budget and schedule standpoint - two standout metrics that largely define the success of a project at the end of the day."